31 MARCH 2015

Nugaev Stops Hernandez in Five

By Marc Livitz: Rustam Nugaev knocked out Jose Hernandez in an entertaining yet short bout this evening in Cabazon, California. Each contestant provided their fair share of fireworks early on in the lightweight contest which took place at the Morongo Casino and Resort in the California desert.

The opening round held a considerable amount of excitement as each fighter came out on the offensive. Midway through the period, Hernandez connected with a solid left hook, which was immediately followed by an overhand right from Nugaev which shook his Fort Worth, Texas opponent. Jose wasn’t utilizing his four inch reach advantage which he held over Rustam and he was somewhat paying for it. His punches were sailing wide, although he did land a crisp lead right to close round one. Hernandez moved more in the second and used his jab to keep Nugaev at bay, but the strategy would only keep his Russian foe on the attack. He caught the Perm, Russia native with an overhand right as round two closed, but not before Nugaev threw combinations to his body.

Jose flew out of the gates to start the third with more punches of the wide left and right variety. He was shortly thereafter caught flush with a short left hook from Rustam which left him briefly disoriented. His hooks and jabs continued to fly as Nugaev kept his guard high and tight. Jose regained his ground as the fighter neared round four.

There were times when Hernandez couldn’t decide whether to jab or hook in the fourth. Whenever he could benefit from his jab, he’d soon abandon it for the hopeful power shot. Nugaev took full advantage and connected with a few more left hooks which seemed to flow gracefully around the short and low rights thrown by Jose. Once the fifth round began, Hernandez clearly looked like he’d been on the receiving end in the evening’s main event. His legs had not completely returned to his aid and Rustam continued to throw short hooks to the head and body. With about two minutes to go, Nugaev landed successive head shots and Jose’s legs began to fail him when he tried to dance away. He was visibly shaken and wobbly. His back was to the ropes as Rustam once again bombed away from dead square in front of him. The head and body shots were finally too much as he took a knee with about ninety seconds to spare. He didn’t attempt to beat the count delivered by referee Dr. Lou Moret. He was badly beaten and furthermore...beaten up. Rustam "Mongoose" Nugaev improved to (25(15)-6) with his fifth round knockout of Jose Hernandez, who fell to (14(6)-7-1).